


(Un)Happy Birthday

by MiddleKeyFangirl



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Minor Injuries, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-23 10:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20007016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiddleKeyFangirl/pseuds/MiddleKeyFangirl
Summary: America's plan for Kate's birthday goes south when Kate comes home covered in blood and tears.





	(Un)Happy Birthday

America slipped inside the fourth story window, scanning the room for any signs of Kate. None. She was good to go.

She closed the window behind her and launched herself onto Kate's couch, staring fixedly at the door. She listened to the sounds of children's feet running around above her head. The distant sound of New York city traffic from outside. Doors slamming open and closed down the hallways.

She looked around Kate's quaint apartment, smiling at nearly every detail. She took note of the pictures she had nailed up on the wall, pictures including herself, Clint, Lucky, Billy, Teddy, Tommy and Cassie. Perhaps her favorite one was the one of her and Kate at the beach. Not fighting aliens or stopping an apocalypse, just relaxing and having fun. America had never seen Kate so laid back before.

Her attention snapped back to the door as keys jangled in the lock. America propped herself on her elbow, smirking at the doorway as she waited for Kate.

"Happy birthday, princess," she called as Kate entered. The smirk quickly left her face as she looked Kate up and down.

Her nose was bleeding (though the blood was mostly dry), and she had a fairly large gash above her eyebrow. Her eyes were dark and shining, the light reflecting off of her unfallen tears. Her whole body was shaking. But the most starling part was the bloodstain that reached from her collarbone down to her bellybutton. America couldn't tell if it was hers or not.

"Kate?" Kate's eyes flashed to America, then quickly darted back. She shook off her quiver and dropped her bow to the floor, kicking it aside as she limped to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and screamed. 

America worriedly rushed to the door. "Katie," she pleaded. Kate gave no response. The only sound that came from the bathroom was quiet crying and a soft zipper. She assumed Kate was changing out of her bloodied uniform, but soon realized she hadn't grabbed a change of clothes. She sighed and rushed off to Kate's bedroom, folding up a nice soft sweater, sweatpants and a change of underwear into a neat pile.

She could hear the water running when she came back to the door.

"Kate?" She spoke through the door. "I brought you clothes." Still no response. The water stopped running, replaced by one heavy thud.

"Kate!"

"I'm fine!" She shouted, water splashing. "I'm fine."

"Whatever it is, I'm here." Kate didn't respond, merely whimpered and put her head in her hands, resting her elbows against the edge of the bathtub.

"Kate." America slid down the wall beside the door. She knocked her knuckles softly on the wood, sighing.

The bathroom was silent now, something that seemed to disturb America. 

She wanted desperately to open the door, but images were flashing through her mind. At the best, Kate was fine, merely taking a bath. At the worst, she was bathing in her own blood, face blank and lifeless.

"Kate please don't make me come in there. I respect your privacy, but I'm scared." The lack of a response caused America's stomach to flip, and her heart took control.

She stood up swiftly, closed her eyes, and wrenched open the door. Luckily, it had no lock (which Kate was really disappointed in) and she was able to open it without breaking the door.

”Kate I have no clue if you’re naked right now, will you please just talk to m-“ America’s leg collided with Kate’s side, eliciting a whimper from Kate. America’s eyes shot open as she caught herself mid-air, hovering just inches from the wall. She cautiously turned around, looking nervously down for Kate. 

Kate was slumped by the side of the bathtub, wearing nothing but a bra and underwear. Her uniform was floating in the bathtub, the water turning a light pink as the blood was drawn out of the fabric. America scanned the girl’s pale skin for any injuries, only noticing a few small cuts, gashes and some massive bruises that would be nearly black within a few mere hours. Which meant that blood probably wasn’t hers. 

She got down on the cold tile floor, next to Kate. She gently pulled Kate’s face towards her, looking into her startling blue eyes. Tears mingled with blood dripping from her forehead painted her fair face. Kate’s eyes flickered for a moment, still looking at America, before she closed them and dropped her head, America’s hand falling to Kate’s leg.

Kate’s face contorted with what America could only name as absolute pain. She let out a loud sob, shoulders shaking. America pushed the hair out of Kate’s face and rubbed her back, still looking desperately at her. 

Which seemed to work, as Kate looked to her with her sad eyes. “C-lint.” She choked on whatever she was going to say next, sobbing even harder, her entire body trembling now. 

America had put the pieces together, eyes watering as she pulled Kate to her chest. Kate sobbed as she tried to maneuver herself tighter to America, gripping her arm like her life depended on it. America gently took the elastic out of Kate's hair, trying to soothe her by running her hands through the long, black strands.

They sat there for nearly an hour before Kate tired herself out. She wiped her nose and sat up, climbing out of America's arms and kneeling back on the floor. She leaned over and started to drain the tub, still sniffling. Her eyes dripped as she looked back at her suit. She looked down and realized her bra had also been stained, and decided she'd just throw it out. She wanted to do the same for the suit.

"What do I do with this?" She asked hoarsely, pulling it up by the leg.

"What do you want to do with it?" _God_. Kate thought. _It's like she knows already._

"I want to throw it out. It hurts."

"Then throw it out," America said, standing up. Kate gently laid the suit in the garbage bin, tying up the shopping bag she used as a trash-can liner. "Here." America took the bag gently from Kate and punched sharply at the air. A small star-shaped gateway opened up and America gently placed the bag into it. The gateway closed, taking the bag with it.

"Where is it?" Kate asked, grabbing her change of clothes off of the floor outside the bathroom.

"It's in a side dimension. Kind of void like. Anything you put in there stays in one place until you or someone else moves it. So if you ever change your mind-"

"I won't." She sniffed, putting her clean clothes on the counter. She climbed into the shower and pulled the opaque glass door nearly completely closed. America tried to look away as she tossed her remaining clothes out of the side. 

"Do you think you could um-"

"Yeah I got it," America nodded, taking the bra and opening another gateway; this one was right above the landfill. _Wow._ Kate felt herself wanting to smile, but she still couldn't pull the energy together to do so.

"Um," she paused, her voice echoing off the shower wall. "Lucky is up in Clint's apartment. Could you go get him?" 

America sighed. "I don't want to leave you alone right now, Kate." She could see Kate nodding and wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"Yeah. Thank you. I really don't want to be alone," she mumbled, some of it getting cut off by the sound of the shower starting.

Kate was done relatively quickly, which was a relief to America because she really didn't want to be stifled by the heat that came with Kate's scalding showers and she knew she couldn't leave her. Kate, on the other hand, just wanted to go to bed. She thought maybe she was in some kind of bizarre dream (well, a nightmare, technically) and that when she woke up for real she would still have one of her closest friends. She continued to think about it as she put her clothes on.

The archer carefully climbed up onto the counter, head hanging low as she watched her feet swing back and forth. America managed to stand between Kate's legs, reaching up to the girl's face.

She took a good look at the nasty gash on Kate's eyebrow and poured some alcohol on cotton ball. She tilted Kate's head and gently tapped the gash with the cotton ball. Kate winced as she wiped the wound gently, still looking into her eyes when she had a good chance to. America continued to mutter 'sorry', 'I'm almost done' and anything else she thought sounded soothing. 

She finished the job with two _Hello Kitty_ bandaids and a gentle caress, brushing the wet hair out of Kate's face. Kate wouldn't meet her eyes, staring at her hands, which were shakily picking at each other. America reached out and put a hand on top of Kate's, trying to calm her down.

"It's all... my fault," Kate said quietly, looking up. "That he's dead." She sniffled and the tears returned, flowing down her face as she hiccuped. Pressing the back of her hand to her nose, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down. But all she wanted was to sleep. Pass out. Just go dark.

"Hey, hey, hey," America cupped the girl's cheeks using her thumbs to wipe the tears away. "Did you kill him?" Her eyes shot open and her hand slowly lowered down into her lap

"No," Kate answered, taken aback.

"Then it's not your damn fault, Kate."

Kate hiccuped again. "I should've stopped him. I should've known that-"

"You can't save everyone." America knew Kate had heard the saying before. Had probably heard Kate saying it to someone else. "You know that."

"You always do," Kate laughed bitterly, "you're perfect, America. I'm just a girl with a stick and a string."

America's eyes narrowed. She pulled Kate's face gently towards her, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. The room was still for a moment before Kate's hand found America's shoulder. She wanted to stay like that, with America. She couldn't feel anything but America. But the pain overcrowded her and she sobbed, causing America to pull back gently, keeping their foreheads pressed together.

"You're fucking amazing, Katie," America whispered. Her breath smelt of peppermint, cool on Kate's burning face. Kate whimpered and collapsed into America, wrapping her arms around the girl's neck and burying her head in her shoulder. America stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Kate's back, rubbing gentle circles over the light silk fabric of her pajamas. 

"I'm sorry. I'm just... I'm not okay right now," Kate managed to get out between sobs.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Katie," America said softly. "You're allowed to feel this."

"I don't want to."

"I know."

America lifted the girl gently, flying the two of them to the couch. Kate's head rested against America's chest, and she tried to stop crying, even stop breathing, long enough to hear her heartbeat. And when she returned to take a shaking breath, her whole body seemed to jerk. America's shirt was wet from Kate's heavy hair, which she was combing through with her fingers. The two of them continued their own separate routines until Kate looked up to America, eyes big and scared.

"Can we stay at Clint's?" She sniffled. "Lucky's there and I just-"

"We can go," America nodded, already standing, right arm supporting Kate's back, just below her sharp shoulder blades. Kate was still in her arms, but her head had moved up to America's shoulder, and her arms wrapped around the other girl carefully. America gently placed her other arm under Kate's knees, essentially cradling her as she walked out to the hallway. It might have been America's strength, or Kate's almost unhealthily thin frame (or a combination of them both), but she felt like a ragdoll, light and soft

America walked light-footedly across the hall and up the stairs, even though she knew it was only eight at night, and a lot of the people in the building were still awake. She reasoned it would be hard to explain why she was carrying Kate to an apartment that wasn't her own. She also knew it would be hard on Kate to face anyone living in the apartment complex.

When they arrived at Clint's door, America managed to unlock and open it while still carrying Kate. Lucky was beyond excited, giving America a major feeling of dread; did dogs mourn like humans do? Because besides Kate, Lucky was pretty much all Clint had.

She shut the door behind them using her foot, walking to Clint's room. She put Kate down, pushed wet hair from her face, and kissed her forehead before turning away.

Kate reached up and gently grabbed her by the elbow. America turned around to look at her, but Kate wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Can you stay?" She asked meekly.

"I'm going to stay on the couch," America said, holding Kate's hand gently.

"No," Kate muttered. "Can you stay _here_? I want to be with you." America looked down at the girl and offered a small smile. Kate finally met her eyes, sending a wave of warmth through her body. She carefully crawled around Kate, lying next to her.

Kate turned to face her, moving herself until she was in America's arms and her head was nestled under the girl's chin. Neither of them closed their eyes; just enjoyed the feeling of being safe and the rare silence that surrounded them.

Kate broke the silence. "You mean a lot to me, America." She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of temporary bliss. "Thank you." America kissed the top of Kate's head, curling her fingers in the girl's long black hair

"Only for you, princess."

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, please let me know! I'd be happy to make a few follow-up one shots into a small series!


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